Chapter 19. Favors.


Loona was on her bed looking at her phone. She was the messages screen for Poch and was currently thinking of what to say or if she should say anything.

"...should I say how the party was?" She typed that in and immediately remembered the kiss, blushing heavily, erasing what she typed. "No….maybe ask if hes ok…or...should I just say hi….ugh!" She flopped back. "Why did I do that?!"

"Sweetie?" Blitzø peaked in.

"Should I just not say anything and wait to see him tomorrow...no that'd be weird!"

"Loona?"

"Huh? Oh hey Blitzø…"

Blitzø walked in. "Everything ok?"

"Kinda… it's not bad at least."

He sat on the edge of the bed. "Something happen with Poch?"

She blushed. "I...guess you could say that."

"Oh, you two get into another scuffle?"

"No, I didn't piss him off this time."

"Did he do something to you?"

"No not that...I did something to him."

"Oh. Did you bite him?"

"What!? No!"

"Lick him?"

"No!"

"...dump a drink on him?"

"Ugh just stop."

"Well then what happened that's got you in such a tif?"

"I...well i… uh…"

"C'mon you can tell me."

"...promise you wont go crazy?"

"I promise!" He held his heart and did a scout salute.

"...i….I...issed.. m." Loona mumbled, turning red.

"What was that?"

"...ed..im." She mumbled again.

"Speak up sweaty."

"I…im."

"Louder!"

"I kissed him!" She yelled.

"...what?"

"I...kissed him."

His face lit up and he gasped. "You kissed him!? Oh my satan!"

Loona groaned. "Shut up!"

"I'm so happy for you! I told you there was chemistry!"

"Blitzø it was an-"

"So how was it!? Was it great!?"

"Yeah, bu- I mean-!"

"So who kissed who?"

"I kissed him but he-"

"Oh so you confessed first!"

"Blitzø! Noone confessed!"

"Kissing can count!"

"It was an accident!"

"Like someone pushed you in?"

"No...I… pulled him in"

"So it wasn't an accident!"

"It was!"

"What exactly happened?"

"Well...we were dancing...he said something...and I don't know why but...I just pulled him in for a kiss...I didn't mean to, so...yeah...an accident."

"Sweety, if you voluntarily pulled him in for a kiss I'm sure that wasn't an accident."

"He didn't expect it!"

"Noone expects a surprise kiss. I'm sure he liked it."

"I don't know if he did."

"Did he say he didn't?"

"N-no...he sorta just...dipped…"

"Ah, he got so flustered he didn't know what to do. That's a good sign sweetie!"

"Blitzø I didn't mean to kiss him!"

"Yet you pulled him in for it!"

"Urrrrg!" She fell back on her bed. "...just...don't talk to him about it."

"Course not sweetie. I understand how difficult love is, so I'll leave it to you two to sort it out."

"I don't- ugh just get out!"

"Rooting for ya to confess first!"

"Out!"


Next day

Loona took a bottle of water out the fridge. "Ok...just gonna act casual when you see him...nothing happened yesterday...just a normal party."

Millie slammed the door open and looked at Loona with sparkling eyes. "You kissed!?" She smiled.

"Oh my- Blitzø told you!?"

"He told me last night! I can't believe you kissed him!"

Moxxie peaked in. "How was it?"

"It was fucking accident!" Loona groaned.

"Says the hound who pulled him in for it!"

"Shut up, needle dick!" She pinched her nose.

"So does that count as a confession?"

"There is no confession! It was fucking acc-"

A red portal cut and Poch came walking in. "Ok, just act nat-" he noticed Loona in front of him, "-ural...h..hey." Poch blushed while awkwardly smiling.

"Heeeeey." Loona smiled just as awkwardly, also blushing. "How...how's it kissing- I mean going!"

"It's going...smoochy- Smoothly! Smoothly is what I said!"

"Oh right of course!"

They stood in silence.

"This reminds me of that one rom com we saw," Moxxie whispered to Millie.

"Yep, this is textbook "I don't know how to explain these feelings" alright." Millie whispered back.

"Should we do something?"

"They need to sort this out themselves Moxxie, but they'll realise how they feel soon enough. Love always triumphs in the end!"

"Ssso uh...were moving to the wrath ring on the harvest moon...you excited?" Poch asked.

"Yeah...sounds fun…" Loona replied.

"I've never been to one."

"Neither have I...guess you're gonna go with Jack?"

"I mean...I could but...I thought I was gonna go with you?"

"Huh? Why would you want to go with me? Wouldn't it be more...exciting to go with Jack or one of the exterminators?"

"Oh you're not going on that again!"

"Huh?"

"Loona, you're not boring! Going with you would be just as exciting, if not more, compared to Jack!" He walked up to her and grabbed her hands. "I told you I like being with you! So I'm gonna be with you at the festival! Deal?" He smiled.

Loona smiled back. "Deal."

"Good!"

"Heh."Loona chuckled before looking down and realizing he's holding her hands.

Poch looked down and noticed the same thing. His cheeks turned red and he let go. "S-sorry!"

"It's fine. It was an accident...just like uh...j-just like...the uh…uh y'know. " she turned red.

Poch too turned red. "R-right! Yeah I mean...it's not like either of us asked for it. I mean... I don't regret it."

"What?"

"The party! I don't regret the party! The party is what I meant! Nothing else! Obviously!"

"Yeah, obviously!...like...what else could there be?"

"Nothing! Nothing else!"

"Exactly!"

"This is actually kinda funny," Moxxie commented, eating popcorn at the table.

"Poch!" Jack called from the reception area. "You here?"

"Coming!" Poch called out. "See ya Loona!" He dashed off.

"See ya." She waved. She sat down and took a deep breath. "Hoo boy…"

"Yep, definitely like that rom com," Millie said.


Poch went to Jack. "What up?"

Jack looked at him a bit seriously. "It's about that angel you fought. Gens got its remains in his truck at the parking lot. You gotta come kiss this."

"Excuse me, what?" Poch was taken back by what he heard.

"I said, you gotta come see this."

"Oh. Alright." He followed Jack down the elevator.

"You wanna explain what happened yesterday?"

"Why, what'd you hear!?" Poch said nervously, thinking he heard something about the kiss.

"Well apparently there's some video a guy's currently editing about the event that took place."

"Dont watch it! It's not important!"

"Well you wouldn't tell me about it."

"There's nothing to tell!"

"The remains say otherwise."

"Remains?"

"Yeah, of the angel. You just texted where to find it and didn't really explain much else."

"Oh...you meant that."

"Yeah, I didn't mean any other kiss."

"Huh?"

"I said I didn't mean any other thing."

"R-right."

They exited and headed for the lot. They saw Gen waving at them at his black flatbed truck. They walked up to him.

"I lipped him,'' Jack told gen.

"You what?" Poch questioned.

"I brought you."

"Oh."

"Poch, there's something real weird about that angel you killed," Gen told him.

"Oh?"

"It's a real smoochery," Jack said.

"Excuse me?"

Gen sighed. "Jack, quit messing with him."

Jack chuckled. "But it's so fun making him think he heard something."

"Wait, you actually were saying that!?" Poch confronted.

Jack stuck his tongue out playfully. "Yep! Sure was, lover boy!"

"Why!?"

"Cause you kissed Loona, and it's fun to make you think about that."

Poch blushed bright red. "H-howd you-!?"

"Blitzø, of course."

"Why am I not surprised?..." Poch facepalmed.

"Ahem!" Gen coughed.

"Oh right. What'd you wanna show us?"

Gen brought them to the back of the truck and opened it, revealing he had something covered up. "It doesn't stink much cause it got preserved by you." He lifted up the tarp to reveal the cut up corpse of Lara.

"Ah gross….wait...it's not Halos!"

Gen placed the tarp back down. "Exactly. So what you fought wasn't a monster, it was a regular angel."

"Must've been really something to give you trouble Poch," Jack commented.

"I'll say...especially since it used something like shadow demons."

Gen and Jack went wide eyed. "What!?" They said at the same time.

"When I first saw her, she was using some disguise to make her look like Claire. Thing is, I got a reaction from her, like my demonic arts felt something from her. When the guise fell on her right hand was something that looked like an exterminator symbol except it was a cross with a ring of wings. She wrote words like we do when summoning shadow demons but...they were different."

"Different how?" Gen asked.

"They were white, they started with an O instead of an X and instead of going in the shadow, the letters balled up and went through her, turning into light ribbons that came out behind her that took the shape of whatever she was summoning."

Jack was processing this all. "That sounds like….a heavenly version of us...you don't think they found a way to create their own exterminators? If so, that would mean they know our secret!"

"Hm. Question is how? How could they have possibly figured out how you were made? Or better yet...did they figure it out? Took the corps talking to a crafty demon before they could become exterminators? To figure out what you are they'd have to at least find out your relation to the human world," Gen surmised "If they didn't, did they stumble onto it another way?"

"Even so...think we're in danger? They'd know what we actually are so what if they go after our loved ones as a threat?"

"Seeing how their subspace works, I don't think so. Plus they'd have to send one with enough intelligence to follow such a complicated order such as holding for ransom or threat."

"Think Collin or Keenie might know something?" Poch asked.

Jack shook his head. "They would've said something when I told them about us."

"Think maybe Cletus would know?"

"Doubt it...but I guess I can have them ask when they see him."

"You found him?"

"Yeah, found his general location. He's been hiding well and luckily for both us and him, the corps aren't looking for him. I'm going with C&K later today to confront him."

"How do you think that'll go?" Gen asked.

"Honestly...I dont think itll go too well. I'm told he holds the teachings close along with his heavenly values. Thankfully he doesn't have any chaos on him or else he'd use it if things go south, especially if I gotta get involved."

"Does he know how to get chaos or even have a device for it?"

"One would hope not, but still be on your toes Jack."

"Right."

"So...what are we gonna do about that corpse?" Poch asked.

"Uhhh...study it?"

"I'd have to take it to the corps and explain how I got it, thus exposing you all as still alive," Gen explained.

"Well...preserve it until it's safe to give?"

"Got no place to reserve it, plus I honestly doubt they could find anything from it since it's dead."

Yeah but couldn't someone pick up a trace?" Poch asked.

"Maybe but...it has been in hell for a long time...it's too different from what we're used to to know if that'll have any negative effects or not."

"Well let's be honest, if heaven has made their own exterminators then I doubt she's the only one we'll meet," Jack said.

"True….so...do we just... dump it?" Poch asked.

"..I….I guess?" Gen shrugged.


Jack left with Gen while Poch went back to I.M.P., coming into the reception area where Loona was at the desk. She glanced at him but avoided eye contact, nervously looking at her phone. Poch came up to her and sat next to her, equally nervous and avoiding eye contact.

"Hey…" He said to her.

"Hi…" She said back.

"...so uh...since we haven't gotten anything yet….ya wanna...watch an anime called Overlord?"

"What's it about?"

"A guy waits in game for its shutdown and when the time passes for it he becomes his character in his castle and his servants and other NPCs become well...sentient. Though the world they're in is different from the game. It's a pretty cool anime and the protag ain't really a good guy, more like a...overlord hah."

"Sounds interesting."

"Yeah. It's pretty bloody too. I think you'd like it, especially this one character named Demiurge."

"Oh yeah? Ok let's give it a watch." She put her phone away.

"Sweet!" He cut open a small gate and pulled out his tablet and headphones from it. He set up the tablet on the table and got to his anime app, starting up Overlord. He gave her one earbud and put in the other. They shuffled closer together and blushed when their arms touched. "Uh...did we...always get this close together?"

"I...think so."

"Oh well...then there's nothing to worry about."

"Yeah just...something we normally do, hehe."

They both looked back at the tablet, trying not to mind the contact but blushing nonetheless. Poch hit start, hoping the anime would draw their attention.

Blitzø, Moxxie, and Millie were peeking in at them from the lounge room.

"What's the blush counter at, Moxxie?" Blitzø whispered.

"Five," Moxxie answered.

"Millie you recording?"

"Yep!" Millie answered.

"Ok, who wants to place bets?"


Jack waited on the roof of Nala's house. Collin and Keenie came out the door that was on the floor of the roof.

"You guys ready?" Jack asked them.

Collin and Keenie looked at each other before nodding and looking back at Jack. "We're ready." They said in unison.

"Alright. I'll be nearby if anything goes south, even so, be careful."

"We will. Thanks Jack." Keenie said.

"No prob. Let's get going, but remember to be discreet. Don't want to be seen and get on conspiracy sites."

"Right." Collin nodded.

The Angel's flew while Jack hopped from roof to roof, making sure to be unseen by people and cameras. They were heading to an abandoned apartment complex, stopping at a building nearby, peaking above the wall. On the roof they saw Cletus sleeping in the corner. He was dirty and his hair was a mess.

"There he is. What's your plan of approach?" Jack asked.

"He'll freak out if he sees us like this right off the bat so we're gonna talk to him first before showing ourselves," Keenie said.

"Ok, but don't forget I'm here if things go really south."

"We won't. Come On Collin," Keenie flew to the roof along with her boyfriend.

Jack followed but kept some distance behind.

Collin and Keenie hid behind a nearby wall close to Cletus. They could hear him softly snoring. Taking a deep breath they spoke.

"Cletus?" Keenie called out first.

Cletus remained unphased.

"Cletus!" Collin called out second.

"Hmmm." Cletus's eye twitched.

"Cletus!" The two sheep yelled in unison.

"Gyah!" Cletus startled awake. He got up and looked around. "Collin? Keenie? That you?"

"Yes, it's us!" Keenie said.

"You're alive!"

"Course we are!" Collin told him.

"You must've gotten away from the rotten exterminator before he could hurt you!"

"Uh...not quite."

"He did hurt you!?"

"Noone hurt us!" Keenie told him.

"Oh good...wait...why can't I see you?...don't tell me...I'm hallucinating!"

"You're not hallucinating, it's just… well...we look different."

"Oh guys it's ok. I'm dirty and scuffed up too! I know things are rough since we have no place to stay anymore, so I wont Judge!"

"Uh...it's not that Cletus, we do have...a place to stay," Collin said a bit hesitantly.

"You do!? How!? It's not at a church is it? We can't go to one since that'd be blasphemous because we got kicked out of heaven."

"It's not a church, it's...with a human."

"What!?"

Keenie sighed. "We're gonna come out now but….try not to freak out."

They came out of the corner and came face to face with Cletus. Cletus's eyes widened in shock and horror. "Wh-what happened to you!?"

"This...is what we look like now."

"Yo-y-yo-you-you've been corrupted!"

"No! We're not corrupted!" Collin told him.

"Then why are you shaped like some Victoria secret model!?" Cletus pointed at Keenie. "And why are you wearing a shirt from a band that produces the devil's music!?" He pointed at Collin.

"Because well...we…"

"We've embraced our true selves. Nala helped us realise that what we were before was just some shell," Keenie explained.

"Shell!? What are you talking about!? And who's Nala!?" Cletus asked, his mind getting jumbled.

"Nala...is Jack's sister...and Jack...is that exterminator."

"So the exterminator corrupted you!"

"No!"

"Cletus, we're not corrupted, if anything how we looked before was our corrupted selfs," Collin said.

"What!?" Cletus took offense to that. "You dare say your old holy forms were corrupted!? They were forms God gifted you!"

"Cletus those forms of us were a suppression of who we really were...how we are now...were free…"

"Heaven…" Keenie struggled with how to properly say what she was gonna say, "heaven...oppressed us Cletus...those who ran it were so obsessed with purity that even the slightest bit of sin or what they deemed impure they had to erase."

"And what's wrong with that!?" Cletus asked.

"Well...it's the fact that there's nothing wrong with a little bit of impurity."

"WHAT!?"

"It's true," Collin stepped in, "greed, wrath, pride, lust, they may seem evil, but their only evil if it goes too far. Greed can lead to fruition, pride can be a strong foundation, wrath can show compassion, and lust...lust," he looked at Keenie lovingly as she looked back just the same, taking his hand, "is sometimes a product of love."

Cletus looked at them in disbelief. "Have you...you didn't…"

"Yes...we've made love...we've had sex together...and I will admit, without shame, that it was kinky at times and I loved it!"

Keenie blushed. "Collin!"

"What? I did! Especially that time on Friday." Collin smirked and looked at her playfully.

"Oh you!"

"I can't believe what I'm hearing!" Cletus said. "You've committed adultery!"

"Yes!" Collin looked back at Cletus. "But only with her because I love her!"

"And I love him! He's the only one I lust for!" Keenie said.

"...you're too far gone...that...that exterminator and his sister...they turned you into fallen angels!"

"...Cletus...if that were the case...why do we still have our Halos?" Collin asked.

"...w-well-"

"And why are our wings still white and we have no horns?" Keenie confronted.

"B-because...you're true holy selfs are fighting this corruption! Keeping you from completely turning! Waiting for someone to right this wrong!"

"No Cletus...heaven is in the wrong."

"You don't mean that!"

"We do Cletus," Collin said, "and we want you to realise it too. Heaven, the purification, the cleansing….it's all wrong….its evil."

"No...no!" Cletus brought out his crossbow.

"Whoa! Cletus put that down!"

"The real Collin and Keenie would never say that!"

"Cletus please! We are the real Collin and Keenie!" Keenie pleaded.

"No! Youre… you're too far gone...you holiness is fighting a losing battle...but before that….I must…'' his hands shook, "i must put you out of your misery!" He aimed and shot a few holy arrows.

Collin and Keenie shrunk, bracing for impact. Jack jumped out from the corner and deflected the arrows with his scythe.

"You!" Cletus glared.

"You were just gonna shoot your friends like that!?" Jack scolded.

"They're no friends of mine anymore!"

"Why? Cause they ain't "pure"? That just proves the point!"

"No! They've been corrupted and it's all… it's all your fault!" He shot wildly at Jack.

Jack spun his scythe, deflecting the arrows. "Stay behind me!" He told Collin and Keenie.

"I'm sorry jack!" Collim told him.

"It's fine, you tried. I'm only gonna knock him out."

"Ok."

"This is your fault! You're the reason I'm doing this!" Cletus shouted.

"My fault!? You're the one with his head up his ass over this purity bullshit, killing his own friends cause of it!"

"Our purity is not bullshit!" He threw down his crossbow. "It is righteous and just! It's for a better world!" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a smooth oval shaped twisted clear gem.

"A chaos gem!?" He saw Cletus open his mouth. "No wait, dont!"

It was too late. He dropped it in his mouth and swallowed it whole. "HRG!" His whole body burned up and he fell to his knees panting.

"You idiot!"

"Jack, what did he eat?" Keenie asked.

"He ate chaos!"

Cletus rolled to his back, screaming in pain, holding his throat as if he ate lava. His whole body throbbed as he got on his hands and knees, beginning to mutate. His body grew, his skin began to rip and shrivel up, as his wings began to sharpen. Blackness glossed over his eyes, his body was losing muscle as from the skin of his fingertips came out long black nails, ripping out of his flesh. His clothes ripped as his body grew, his face began to mangle and his teeth sharpen along with the widening of his mouth and the largening of his head. His shoes ripped as his toes became longer, toenails growing and curving like sharp ugly blades. From his back, where his spine was, which was now shown through his skin, black spikes ripped out from each segment of bone. His back hunched, and he was as tall as Jack, even though he was knelt down. He looked at the imp with a sadistic smile, his halo breaking, before saying one thing. "Purify!" He lunged at Jack.

Collin and Keenie looked at Cletus with horror. Jack grabbed them and leapt out the way before his claws could scratch them. He got out of its view, hiding behind a wall as it skulked around, looking for him saying the word Purify over and over.

"W-w-what is that!?" Keenie asked in fear.

"What...jack what….what happened to him?!" Collin questioned.

"Remember how I told you those Angel monsters are made?" Jack asked.

"Y-yeah…."

"He did the process wrong. He's an unstable angel monster, unable to be commanded, unable to tell allies from enemy, and unable to think about anything other than killing those living around him, thinking them all to be impure."

"Oh no…"

"...listen...he can't be turned back….and if he goes beyond here then….look...I'm gonna have to-"

"You're gonna have to kill him… aren't you?"

"What!?" Keenie gasped.

"...yeah...I am." Jack answered.

"No…"

"Is...there any other way?" Collin asked, a hint of desperation in his eyes.

"Either I do it or another exterminator does when he's noticed." Jack told him.

Keenie started to tear up. "No…"

Collin turned to Keenie and hugged her, also tearing up. "Keenie...we tried...but…" a shadow loomed over them. "Huh.

"Purify!" Cletus shouted and dived in on them from above.

Collin and Keenie cried out, startled and afraid, looking at their old friends' monstrous form.

"Dust!" Jack wrote and summoned his shadow demon, having it form into chains around Cletus's arms and legs, binding him. He fell on his face between Jack and the sheep Angel's.

"Pu...rify." Cletus looked up at Collin and Keenie, working to them before Jack stepped on his back, stopping him in place.

"...Collin...Keenie…." Jack called out to them.

The two looked at Jack, Keenie's eyes gushing with tears with Collin trying to hold them back.

"...say goodbye to him...before you regret it."

Collin and Keenie looked at their old friend, looking at his grotesque face and black eyes. They weren't disgusted, only sad.

Keenie was choked up by her own sobs. "I...im..so-ha-ry cletus...we...we really did try...I wish...this didn't have to be this way…"

"I...I wont say I regret what I've become...only that I regret that I couldn't... I couldn't stop you from doing this...I feel like… Nala would've liked you…" Collin looked away before looking back at him, his eyes watery with tears. "Goodbye...Cletus."

"G...goodbye…" Keenie cried on Collins' shoulder.

"..." Jack looked at Cletus and felt him freeze when they said goodbye, looking at Collin and Keenie as if there was a little bit of him left, before trying to break free again. He raised his scythe and swung at his neck.


Collin and Keenie laid asleep in bed, tears drying up on their cheeks. Jack put the covers over their tired bodies.

"...how'd he crystallize chaos?" Nala asked, standing at the door.

"No clue." Jack said, getting up. "Probably picked it up from somewhere in heaven, but didn't know the whole process."

"...if he had done it right...would you still have killed him?"

"He probably would've followed Collin and Keenie's orders...well I'd like to say that but they don't have the mark….so I'd still have to kill him."

Nala approached her brother. "You ok?"

"...I'm fine…" He turned to face Nala. "I gotta go...take care of them."

"Of course."

Jack left, looking back but moving forward.


End.

Next chapter. Harvest Moon